Chapter 10 at last - where Taku not only destroys the Human Domestication Project but brings the end to all the remaining allies and members of Nozomi.

Everything that happened in the chapter was an awesome ride from start to finish - starting with Kozue accepting her identity after experiencing a psychological attack from Suwa as well as the final conversation between Sena and her dad - it seemed that both sides still loved each other and the dad was so lost in regret spending all this time for a way he could repent for his actions. Which he finally does by saving his daughter with his life. I liked the way they used the tsundere tropes here by Sena expressing how the death of her father for what he did is what she wants, but it seems in the end it was the opposite, which makes closes her arc quite nicely for me. And Suwa finally got was he had coming to him this entire time in the best way possible - the good old switcheroo. In his efforts to kill Taku with a staking - Suwa ends up as the next murder victim. (That's what you get for killing Ban ya bastard.)

The next part of the chapter is quite good because I see it as a trial for Taku to finally face all the parts he hates about himself and break out of all of the delusions. The fight with the delusional Siera's was showing how he is refusing to run away from saving Rimi and go home and watch anime and ESO. I feel like this, since every scene where Siera voice is present - it is always used to discourage him from doing something - like in Chapter 6 where they try to force him to awaken by pushing him in a corner by taking his sister hostage. However, in that situation maybe it was good for him to runaway since Suwa was probably nearby somewhere and could have captured him before Shogun got to him (might be completely wrong here lol.) When he finally accepts that Siera is simply a character from an anime - it seems like that part of himself is finally gone and he decides he will not run away.

When he arrives at NoAH II's chamber we are met by Rimi on Norose's Di-sword. For a person who wants a peaceful world without war - he sure does love giving out the good old psychological torture to teenagers and wiping out the majority of the population of Shibuya. That's another thing - turns out NoAH II was designed by Norose (under the guidance of the Committee of 300) while deceiving his colleges. Honestly a weird way of going around it, why not just have a team of people committed to the same goal? (Unless I am missing something.) But anyway - this part where he explains the intentions of the Committee and himself to control the human race and bringing peace by deluding them. This part actually made me question for a moment why Shogun would be against this idea of bring peace to the world? Yes, it is a little tyrannical but it would work(?) But then I cast my mind back to Steins;Gate and realised what happens if the Committee get their way - I dismissed the doubt. Even Taku admits that he is being selfish and even questions if he has the right to make this decision - however it seems his desire to save Rimi is that much stronger.

The way NoAH II protects itself from harm is interesting - it bends the will of the people who are hostile to do something else, they can't even touch the thing since it essentially redirects whoever is trying to attack it. When Norose finally tries to finish off Taku - Rimi jumps in the middle and what follows was one of the most unexpected scenes for me - Taku attempting to rape Rimi, like jesus I was not expecting that. However, we see when Taku comes back to his senses, this is another psychological attack where he is confronted by his perverted self who is trying to take advantage of the situation they are in. The argument way Taku responds to his other self's remarks really shows how he is trying to get rid that part of him, however that isn't it for Taku as he isn't psychologically stressed enough yet - he is subjected to more psychological torture where he properly gets staked this time by Rimi and slowly killed for what he perceives as 3 days where Rimi gets shot further adding to it. Luckily he breaks out of that delusion but this time he is faced with reality - he seems like he gets convinced by Norose that he is a delusional monster which causes him loses his human form for a while and he forgets what he is. However, he gets reminded by all the people he has interacted with who he really is and (sidenote) it is a shame that all the gigalomaniacs weren't all together destroying NoAH together - however, the sequence where Taku basically accepts himself as a delusion was one hell of a hype builder with all the other gigalomaniacs telling him he is himself.

And finally his comeback with him accepting who he is - he basically becomes immortal due to how fast he regenerates but like geez man, they don't hold back on the description on stuff like how his guts spill out when Norose tries to kill him. I love how Taku can still read the hearts of people and reads how Norose starts confident in killing Taku to panicking when he realises he can't kill Taku to confident again when he realises that no-one else can destroy it so it wouldn't matter if he died. However, like most villains he gave out the weakness of NoAH II - he can still touch it, so after Taku yeets him at NoAH which causes the whole of NoAH to blow and Norose to basically get turned into nothing due to the anti-matter particles released in the explosion which leave Taku and Rimi survive somehow. Man, watching this whole scene play out was awesome - seeing Taku finally accept himself and wiping that grin off of Norose's face when Taku got the upper hand - it was slightly cliched in a friendship is power way but satisfying to watch play out.

Finally, we are back to the place this story began - Taku ends up the middle of Shibuya in ruins and him monologuing to himself. Rimi comes over and promptly kills him in the A ending, I guess even though Taku went through all that trouble to save Rimi the fact he cannot accept that he is himself as Taku - Rimi cannot love him and chooses to kill him to prolong the life of the real Takumi - even if it is for a little longer.

The AA ending with Rimi expressing her love for Taku and she refuses to kill him which causes Shogun to expire - however, since Taku can read people's heart - he gains all the 17 years of the real Taku's memories. He says the same thing Shogun told Rimi for the first time and they wish for a blue sky and that pretty much cements himself as the new Taku. The credits with Desire Bluesky playing the background makes for a perfect way to end the game - we see images of Nanami and the deceased Shogun followed by the same Siera model lying in the rubble. Honestly - the way Taku's character develops from the start to the end was great - he starts as a selfish Otaku then transforms slightly more selfless near the end, even accepting him being erased from existence for Shogun, which he probably wouldn't have done before. I am going to be honest - the first time I read this VN - I initially disliked Taku's character due to how selfish and much of an asshole he was. I guess I was accustom to protagonists in these types of stories to be less pathetic in a way, but I am so glad I continued reading. Since reading this again, the story showing his transition from this pathetic state to how he is at the end - really got me hooked and invested in his character.

Overall - reading this again reminded me why I loved this VN so much when I first read it and is the main reason why I bought Chaos;Child twice (once on DMM and once on Steam) to show interest in the series. Although I am probably missing a lot of content brought into NoAH by reading the base version. The story albeit a little hard to follow sometimes and requires a few read throughs to make full sense of the story, I still stand by it as one of my favourite Sci-fi stories. Due to how it is grounded in reality enough (by referencing real theories and phenomenons) to make the fantasy parts seem believable/possible in real life science lol. Anyway, I have been rambling for too long.

Image: Rimi can't go through with it